Technical Field
The present invention relates to techniques for automated driving of a vehicle.
Related Art
Conventionally, techniques are known for automated driving of vehicles using a satellite positioning system. As one of such techniques, a technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-42106 is configured to acquire information about a constellation of global positioning system (GPS) satellites, produce a satellite blockage area map indicative of areas where the GPS satellites are blocked by surrounding structures, and use the satellite blockage area map to select, as a route to a destination for an own vehicle, one of route candidates, along which the GPS satellites are assumed to be best acquirable.
However, the conventional satellite blockage area map is estimated from situations of known surrounding structures. This may give rise to a problem that the satellite blockage area map does not necessarily coincide with observations due to the presence of roadside trees and/or temporarily placed structures that were not taken into account in the satellite blockage area map.
In addition, automated driving utilizes not only information from the satellite positioning system, but also information from various vehicle-mounted sensors, such as a camera, a radar and the like. This may give rise to another problem that robustness may be lost if the accuracy of at least one of the vehicle-mounted sensors (including a satellite positioning system receiver) is degraded.
Further, for example, the accuracy in detecting white lines using the camera may vary depending on reflectional conditions of road surfaces. Thus, the degradation of the information acquired from the vehicle-mounted sensors may be caused by such complicated conditions and may occur in near real time, which cannot be known in advance.
In consideration of the foregoing, exemplary embodiments of the present invention are directed to providing techniques for generating a route for automated driving of a vehicle, regardless of situations.